Pet foods are recognized as being divided into three basic types, as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,039,689. The first type comprises those pet foods having moisture content greater than 50% by weight; these require aseptic canning. The second type, considered semi-moist, contains from about 15% to about 50% by weight of moisture; and is conventionally packaged in polyethylene or other air-tight packages; and in this class, carbohydrates, principally sugar and polyhydrins, are used for bacteriostasis, these requiring the use of a great deal of meat protein for nutritional balance. Considerations governing this type of pet food are set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,202,514. The third type, which contains up to about 15% moisture, conventionally consists primarily of cereal; because of their low moisture content, they are stable and require no bacteriostatic ingredients; but polyhydrins have been utilized because they relieve the hardness which has heretofore been characteristic of this dry pet food classification.
Simple sugars have this bacteriostatic property, like sucrose. In compounding moist pet foods utilizing sucrose, this addition has been suggested to inhibit rigid crystallization as pointed out in said U.S. Pat. No. 3,202,514.